1. A 6-year longitudinal study examined the relationship between social interaction and dementia prevention in a Japanese community. 2. The study found that greater social interaction, particularly reading newspapers, was positively associated with reduced risk of dementia. 3. The findings suggest that prevention-oriented social services are important for improving healthy longevity and enabling independent living for elderly individuals.

1. Social Interaction as an Effective Tool
for Dementia Prevention:
Six-year Follow-up Study
Tokie Anme, Ph.D
University of Tsukuba

2. Purpose
The purpose of this study is to clarify
1. Importance of social interaction for
dementia prevention.
2. How to enhance effective
empowerment for dementia prevention.

3. Social Background
1. The Japanese population is aging faster
than other countries
2. Japanese people enjoy the longest life
span in the world.
3. The average life expectancy for
females was 86.4 years and for males
79.6 years.
4. Almost 23.1% of the population was
65 years of age or over in 2010

4. Healthy Longevity Project
 “Tobisima Longitudinal Study” (TLS)
1991-2030 Forty years cohort study
All the residence (n=5,000) participate
 Tobisima is one of the typical community
in Japan (location, population structure)
 Purpose: Making most healthy longevity
village in Japan (till 120 years of age!)

5. Research Design
year 1991 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 03 06 09 …30
Baseline survey o o o o o o o o o o o … o
general health status
IADL
Social interaction
Health habit
Service using
Dementia o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Mortality o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Medical check o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Medical cost o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

7. Conceptual Framework
Social Interaction
baseline outcome
Health Status Health Status
Dementia
Disease
Mortality
Function Morbidity
Demogra-
phic data Function
age Cost
gender
education Service Utilization
occupation
Health Habit

8. Conceptual and Operational Definition
1. Social Interaction
Index of Social Interaction (ISI)
Cronbach =.78 reliability=.81
2.Function (3 category)
Independence, care for IADL, care for ADL
3. Health habits: exercise, smoking, diet
4. Dementia (2 category) Yes or No
by Health Professional Evaluation
5. Other variables (2 category) Yes or No

9. Index of Social Interaction(ISI)
- 18 items and 5 subscales -
１．Independence
Active approach, Life style motivation, etc.
２．Social curiosity
Reading newspapers, Having hobby, etc.
３．Interaction
Communication with family, outsiders, etc.
４．Feeling of safety
Having counsel, supportive person, etc.
５．Participation in the society
Participation in social groups, etc

10. Subjects and Methods
Subjects
All the residence of age 65 or over
in one of typical community: 558
(IADL independence in 2003)
108 subjects become demented within six years
Methods
Year 2003 self-rated questionnaire
Year 2009 Professionals’ evaluation of dementia
using Government Standardized Index

11. Chi-square Test for Dementia Prevention
Items of ISI p
Reading newspapers <0.001 **
Social Contribution 0.002 **
Active approach 0.002 **
Having a hobby 0.003 **
Life style motivation 0.003 **
Active role 0.003 **
Reading Books 0.005 **
Using new Devise 0.007 **
Regular life style 0.037 *
**:P<0.01 *:P<0.05

12. Logistic Analysis for Dementia Prevention
Items of ISI Odds ratio 95% range
Reading newspapers 2.12 ** 1.32- 3.40
Age 3.51 * 2.26- 5.46
Gender 0.94 0.60- 1.48
Frail 1.69 0.88- 3.22
Intercept -3.395
Hosmer-Lemeshow 0.727
**:P<0.01 *:P<0.05

13. Social Interaction and Dementia Prevention
1. Greater social interaction was
positively related to reduced dementia
2. The multiple logistic regression analysis
adjusted for baseline age, gender, and
physical function indicated that
low frequency of newspaper reading
was related to increased risks of dementia.

14. ENHAENCE
Effective Empowerment
for Dementia Prevention
1) prevention oriented
2) adapt requirement
3) evaluation setting
4) utilize information technology
5) promotion of participation

15. Conclusion
1. These findings highlight the importance of social
interaction in dementia prevention.
2. The introduction of new services such as
"strengthening of social ties" represent initial steps in
establishing systems that enable elderly persons to
live independently with dignity.
3. An ongoing longitudinal study of elders in one
community demonstrate that prevention-oriented
services are essential to improving the healthy
longevity of citizens, and that seniors will accept such
services.